2022 Nebraska Grazing Conference
The 2022 Nebraska Grazing Conference will be held August 9 and 10 at the Younes Conference Center in Kearney, NE with a program bridging grazing lands conservation and management.
Spanish:Technical Note: Where are my cattle at? – Part II: Virtual Fencing
In recent years, a modern technology, “virtual fencing,” has emerged into the market and has been gaining growing interest from the livestock producers, particularly in the cattle sector. Virtual fencing technology has been studied in some European countries and Australia where grazing beef and dairy cows are predominant. More research is currently being conducted in the USA to better understand how virtual fencing might fit within cow-calf and yearling operations as a tool for grazing management.
Spanish:Keep Summer Cattle Marketing Current
Feedlot managers understand that heat stress reduces intake. This effect is more marked in cattle that are closer to their finishing weight, and during the first heat event of the season as cattle are not acclimated to heat yet.
Spanish:Weighing Risk and Reward of Annual Forages
This planting season, early dry conditions followed by late wet conditions in some areas have caused some fields to be designated prevented planting acres. To go along with this, high feed and forage prices and less than ideal pasture conditions due to previous years’ drought are allowing the opportunity for producers to think outside the box. After all, an influx of prevented plant acres provides freedom to produce annual cover crops to counter-balance current forage prices.
Spanish:Determining Value of Beef Through Grading
When a beef animal is harvested, the value of the carcass and the resulting cuts are determined based on the grades of the carcass. Quality grading and yield grading is monitored by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS). Unlike inspection, which monitors food safety and is mandatory for meat products being sold in the United States, grading is a voluntary program and is used to determine the marketability of the product.
Spanish:Impact of Production on the Final Product
Quality is a prediction of the expected palatability of a carcass. Quality grade is based off animal maturity and marbling. In addition to these factors, other characteristics such as color, texture and firmness of the final product are considered by those making purchasing decisions. Differences in these characteristics can be impacted by several different things and often tie back to the life of the animal. It is often noted that the combination of genetics and environment can impact the phenotype, or physical characteristics, of an animal.
Spanish:Supplementing Yearlings in the Summer Grazing Season: Is it Worth it?
Forage quality and yearling rate of gain decline throughout the summer, particularly in cool season grasses. Strategically supplementing yearlings with dry distillers grains in the second half of the summer as the grass quality declines will increase average daily gain (ADG), but will it increase returns?
Spanish:Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory Open House
The 23rd annual University of Nebraska–Lincoln Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory (GSL) Open House will be held on Wednesday, August 24, 2022. This year’s Open House will be a hybrid format with our traditional in-person event held at GSL along with being live streamed online webinar.
Spanish:Adequate Nutrition for Breeding Season Success
We ask a lot from our cows come breeding season. We expect her to be providing adequate nutrients for calf growth (lactating), we expect her reproductive tract to repair and return to estrus prior to the start of breeding. All these expectations are within 90 days after calving to maintain a yearly calving interval.
Spanish:What to Expect from Alternatives to Corn Silage
Drought has limited pasture availability and forced many producers into feeding total mixed rations (TMR) to cows. Including silage in a TMR can reduce ration cost, improve the energy content of the diet, and add moisture, which can serve as a ration conditioner. However, high commodity prices have encouraged many grain farmers to plant corn for grain rather than silage. Silage can also be made from small grains such as rye, wheat, oats, triticale, or barley, or from summer annual forages such as forage sorghum, sorghum-sudan or pearl millet.
Spanish:Strategic Deployment of Heat Abatement Strategies
2022 Summer Stocker/Yearling Meeting and Tour June 23 in Imperial
Nebraska Extension will host a stocker/yearling systems summer meeting and tour Thursday, June 23 in Imperial, Nebraska. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. MDT and the program will kick off at 9:00 a.m. MDT at the Crossroads Wesleyan Church, Imperial. Lunch is sponsored by Merck Animal Health, followed by a tour of Wine Glass Ranch in the afternoon.
Spanish:Meeting water needs of cattle in the feedlot
Various factors affect water intake; but temperature, humidity and feed intake are the main drivers. Additionally, the first heat events of the season (late May and early June) are the most stressful on cattle: cattle are generally reaching finishing weight and condition, they are not acclimated to heat, and they have not shed their winter coat. This transition also catches managers and staff off guard as they are focused on late-winter yard management.
Spanish:Coping with Effects of High Feed Prices and Possible Drought in 2022
Presently, despite timely rains in certain areas of Nebraska, the threat of drought for the summer of 2022 is not dissipated. Prediction models of precipitation for May to July place most of Nebraska counties at leaning below normal probability with probability of temperatures likely above normal. Weather conditions and continued high grain and forage prices will result in greater annual cow costs in 2022.
Spanish:Technical Note: Where are my cattle at? – Part I: GPS Sensors
Global positioning system (GPS) technology has been implemented into the agriculture world in numerous ways. It is a satellite navigation system based on real-time geolocation and time information. GPS data can be a useful tool to maximize production, manage more efficiently, and reduce costs. Farmers have proven the positive benefits of integrating GPS technology in their operations, such as tractor guidance, planting, application rates, and yield mapping.
Spanish:Increasing Labor and Equipment Costs are Pressuring Cow-Calf Cost of Production
In working with cow-calf producers and discussing unit cost of production, labor and equipment costs are often the second largest expense category identified after grazed and harvested feed. Expenses related to labor and equipment have increased dramatically over the last several years and especially in the last 18 months. Competition for labor is high and those with the necessary work ethic and skills frequently find industries outside of agriculture offering wages and benefits difficult to compete with and be profitable.
Spanish:Is Plant ID Necessary for Grassland Management?
Livestock feed is often the greatest annual cost to producers, making grasslands and grassland management an important component of the livestock industry. Profitable and effective grassland livestock management begins with understanding the forage resource, including identifying the plants in the pasture. To manage grassland profitably, managers must be able to identify what plants are there, understand their nutritional value, what plants livestock prefer to graze, and how grazing and other factors impact each plant.
Spanish:Feeder Cattle Interest Rates, Grazing Land Values Pose Hurdles for Producers
This article was first published by "In the Cattle Markets" on May 9, 2022.
Spanish:Tools for Adjusting Stocking Rates during Drought
While areas across Nebraska have received some precipitation, much of the state remains in moderate to extreme drought. Following recommended trigger dates for necessary management changes, now is the time asses current precipitation accumulation, cool-season forage growth, and seasonal forecasts.
Spanish:Two Programs Offered for Sheep, Goat, and Beef Producers in June
SDSU Extension, Kansas State Research and Extension and Nebraska Extension will host a series of Diversifying with Small Ruminants workshops June 7 in Salina, KS, June 8 in O'Neill, NE and June 9 in Chamberlain, SD. The program will go from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and lunch will be provided.
This program was developed due to interest by cattle producers looking at adding sheep to their beef operation. We will discuss things to consider when looking at such a move and producers will discuss what they have learned from adding sheep.
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